China to maintain strict 'one child' policy: State media

China, the world's most populous country with more than 1.3 billion people, will maintain its strict 'one-child' policy, state media said on Sunday, despite calls for the rules to be relaxed. -- PHOTO: REUTERS SHANGHAI (AFP) - China, the world's most populous country with more than 1.3 billion people, will maintain its strict 'one-child' policy, state media said on Sunday, despite calls for the rules to be relaxed. The population control measure has prevented almost half a billion births since it was introduced in 1979, Chinese experts claim. But it has turned into a demographic time bomb as the population ages, storing up huge economic and social problems for the country as well as fostering a gender imbalance. 'Over-population remains one of the major challenges to social and economic development,' Mr Li Bin, director of the State Population and Family Planning Commissio...